TUR
‘ABDIN – a Homeland of Ancient Syro-Aramaean Culture

By: Professor Sebastian Brock

Tur
‘Abdin features in written sources as early as the thirteent century
BC. To the kings of Assyria it was a region to be conquared and
despoild: thus, in 987 BC Ashurnasipal II praoudly proclaimed “I
have subdued Matiate (=Midyat) and it villlages; I took much spoil
from there, and laid upon the tribute and heavy taxes” – a fate that
Tur ‘Abdin has suffered all too many times in its subsequent
history. The Assyrian and Babylonian kings also single out for
specific mention “the wine of Izalla”, that is of Izlo, as the
southern edge of the mountainous plateau of Tur ‘Abdin, overlooking
the Mesopotamian plains, is often known in old sources. The fame of
this wine, clearly regarded as being of very high quality, also
seems to have been known to the prophet Ezekiel, who, in his
prophecy against Tyre, speaks of “casks of wine from Izlo” (Ezekiel
27:19; the known “Uzal”, in all likelihood a corruption of “Izal”).

It
is these same slopes of Izlo that, in the fourth century A.D., St
Jacob, bishop of nearby Nisibis, And his deacon St Ephrem, must have
trodden on many an occasion. It was here too, that there sprung up
in the course of thee fifth and sixth centuries many famouse
monasteries, many of whose buildings still stand, and some of which
continued to serve as monasteries well into the present century:
this was the case with the monastery of Mor Awgin who, according to
tradition, was the founder of monasticism in Mesopotamia, and with
the Monastery of Mor Abraham, originally established by the East
Syriac monastic reformer of the sixth century, Mor Abraham of
Kashkar.

It
was thanks to the blossoming of monasteries all over the plateau in
the ensuing centuries been accorded the title of “the Mount Athos of
the East” by European writers. Accordingly today, for many peoples
Tur ‘Abdin is renowned primarily for its numerous ancient churches
and monasteries, some of which still function, despite the
vicissitudes and ravages of time (not least in the present century).
For the Syrian Orthodox Church, however, it is much more than this,
for Tur ‘Abdin is above all a heartland of Syriac Tradition which
reashes back to the early centuries of the Christian Church.
Whatever the correct original etymology of its name, Tur ‘Abdin is
quintessentially “the mountin of the servants of God”, the home of
numerous local saints, after whom many of the monasteries and
shurches that have sprung up and flourished at one period or another
over the course of sixteen centuries have been named. These saints
of Tur ‘Abdin include some colorful figures: several were stylites,
and the column of one of these can still be seen in village of
Habsus (Habsenas), while others were distinctly practical people,
like the entrepreneur bishop Simeon of the Olives (Shem’un d-Zayte)
who died in 734: thanks to his large-scale olive cultivation the
numerous churche in the entire region of Tur ‘Abdin were provided
with oil for their lamps; it was he, too, who provided an endowment
for the Monastery of Mor Gabriel from the proceeds of some hidden
treasure that his nephew David had discovered in a remote cave.
Others are remembered for their miraculous healings: thus the ruined
monastery of St Theodotos (who died in 698), situated above the
village of Qelleth, is still visited by sufferers from migraine.

But although it is the architecture of churches
like Mor Yakub the Recluse at Salah, and that of the Virgin at Hah
that perhaps catch the eye of the visitor mosttoday, it is
also important to remember that the history of Tur ‘Abdin is rich in
many other aspects of culture. The survival of a magnificent
illuminated Gospel lectionary manuscript, written for the church av
Hah in 1227, is an indication of the high lever of scribal activity
in the region during this century which witnessed what one author
har termed a ‘renaissance’ for the Syrian Orthodox Church. Likewise,
Tur ‘Abdin can boast a large number of authers writing in Classical
Syriac, though regrettably their works remain largely unpublished
and so can only be read in manuscripts. Among the few authors whose
writings have been printed are Mas‘ud and Addai, both belonging to
the fifteenth century; Mas‘ud was the author of a long theological
poem entitled “The Spiritual Ship”, and he may be the same person as
the Mas‘ud who was one of the independent patriarchs of Tur Abdin,
during the period of schism with the canonical patriarchal line,
centred on Deiro d- Za‘faran. The priest Addai, who was just one of
surival notable authors from Bsorino (Basabrina), is remembered with
gratitude by historians today for his continuation of Bar Hebraeus’
ecclesiastical history up to his own day, some two centuries later.
As a representative of the many others authorswhose writings remain
virtually unknown on might take Basilius Shem‘un, maphrian of Tur
‘Abdin, who died a martyr’s death in 1740: of his extensive
writings, in both prose ant poetry, only few samples have so far
been made available (in an anthology published from the monastery of
St Ephrem, in Holland, By Mor Julius Cicek); amongst these is a poem
in Kurdish language but written in Syriac script.

Another little-known aspect of the cultural role
of Tur 'Abdin lies in the transmission of texts: over the course of
centuries and continuing right up to the present day, innumerable
scribes have been at work in the churches and monastaries of Tur
'Abdin, copying ot Syriac liturgical and literary texts. It was
perhaps through some of these monastic scribes that many works on
the spiritual life by some of the great East Syriac monastic
writers, such as Isaac of Nineveh and John the Elder (Yuhanon
Sobo), came to be read and appreciated in Syrian Orthodox circles as
well; here one might speculate that this happend at the time when
some of the monasteries on Izlo, which had originally been East
Syriac foundations, eventually passed into Syrian Orthodox hands.

Many scribes of manuscripts have recorded their
names and date of writing at the end of the manusscripts they were
copying. Sometimes a scribe would also add some verses to celebrate
the completion of his task; one of these couplets reads as follows:

Just as the sailor rejoices now that his ship has
reached harbour, so does the scribe rejoice at the very last line
that he writes.

This couplet happens to have a long and
intriguing history, for similar couplets are attested in both Greek
and Latin: in Greek the earliest example dates from 898, and in
Latin from 669, but it is a Syriac manuscript that provides us with
the earliest example, dated December 543. It is a pleasing example
of continuity that the couplet can still be found at the end of
several of the publications by Mor Julius Cicek, formerly abbot of
Mor Gabriel Monastery in Tur 'Abdin, but now metropolitan of Central
Europe.

Though sadly depleted by largescale emigration,
Tur 'Abdin nevertheless remains very much a spiritual focal-point,
not only for Syrian Orthodox Tradition, but also for the whole
Christian Tradition, not least since it is here, in the Monastery of
Mor Gabriel, that a liturgical language, very close to the dialect
of Aramaic that Christ will have spoken, is most lovingly and
successfully nurtured - definitely not as a museum piece, but very
much as part of a venerable and living Tradition which has enriched,
and continues to enrich, the entire Christian tradition.

Turabdin:
Living Cultural heritage, the preface pp. 22-23.

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